Helogenes, the driftwood marbled catfishes, is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cetopsidae, the whale catfishes.[2] The fishes in this genus are found in tropical South America.

Helogenes
Helogenes marmoratus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Cetopsidae
Subfamily: Helogeneinae
Regan, 1911[1]
Genus: Helogenes
Günther, 1863[2]
Type species
Helogenes marmoratus
Synonyms[2]

Leyvaichthys Dahl, 1960

Helogeneinae is the sister taxon of Cetopsinae, the other subfamily in the family Cetopsidae.[3]

Species

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Helogenes contains the following valid species:[4]

Distribution

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Helogenes species occur through much of the Amazon River basin, the southern portions of the Orinoco River basin, the coastal rivers of the Guianas, and at least the lower portions of the Tocantins River.[5]

Description

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In Helogenes, the dorsal fin base is short, the anal fin base is elongate, the dorsal and pectoral fins lack spines, the adipose fin is usually present, but is reduced or absent in one population of one species.[6][5] Helogenes species grow to about 4.37.3 centimetres (1.72.9 in) SL.[7]

Ecology

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Helogenes species feed on allochthonous insects.[3] The only species for which details of the ecology are known is H. marmoratus (refer to article for that species).

References

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  1. Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Helogeneinae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 Vari, Richard P.; Ferraris, Carl J.; de Pinna, Mário C. C. (2005). "The Neotropical whale catfishes (Siluriformes: Cetopsidae: Cetopsinae), a revisionary study". Neotropical Ichthyology. 3 (2): 127–238. doi:10.1590/S1679-62252005000200001.
  4. Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Helogenes". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  5. 1 2 Ferraris Jr., Carl J.; Vari, Richard P. (2007-06-07). "Whale Catfishes Cetopsidae". Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  6. Nelson, Joseph S. (2006). Fishes of the World. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-25031-7.
  7. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Helogenes". FishBase. December 2011 version.